Portable diner



y 1941. A. E. SIEBER PORTABLE DINER' Filed march 16 "1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F- a 2 6 a J E u m n A, a 2/ rd. 6 5

INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented July 1, 1941 iJNiTED STATES PATNT OFFICE PORTABLE DINER Arthur E. Sieber, Haledon, N. J.

ApplicationlMarch 16, 1940, SerialNo. 324,295

3 Claims.

This invention relates to buildings generally and more specifically to portable buildings of the type commonly known as diners. The modern portable diner is rapidly replacing the ordinary fixed restaurant, because of the formers completeness in modern equipment and'the facility with which it may be moved to a new location. A restaurant in a fixed building is an establishment constructed and equipped at its location while a diner is assembled and completely equipped at a central factory and transported in that condition to any desired location.

The earlier diner was a structure about ten feet wide and thirty to forty feet long housing a row of stools, a service counter and stoves or preparing tables running lengthwise of the structure. The modern diner contains similar equipment and in addition must be provided with dining table-booths, as well as partitioned sections for a kitchen and washrooms. In order to house the complete modern equipment under on roof it is necessary to increase thewidth of thestructure considerably. Such an increase in size hinders, and frequently prevents transporting the structure over the highways and makes it il possible to ship by railroad. The main purpose of my invention is to provide a completely equipped modern diner which may be transported in two or more sections either by high way or railroad to location.

A structure, adapted to house the complete modern equipment pointed out above and laid out in the proper manner, would be about twenty feet in width. By dividing the structure longitudinally on its approximate-center line, two sections each ten feet in width'would be provided. Such a structure may be readily hauled over the highways or transported on a railway flat car since it is within the maximum width limit of ten feet six inches required for railroad transportation.

Due to the equipment such as tiling and other appointments it is necessary that each section be a rigid structure, otherwise considerably damage would result during transportation. From the standpoint of rigidity alone the best way to build the structure would be to provide a division wall along the longitudinal center line of the diner. In that way each section would be provided with four permanent walls. By placing the washroom and kitchen partitions along the center line each half of the structure would be provided with a rigid supporting Wall which could be united back to back when assembled at location. However,

a partition along the center line would make it I the floor and roof central channels.

impossible to obtain the proper layout for the diner equipment. Therefore both sections must be constructed with an open side, said open sides being placed adjacent when the diner is assembled at location into a single structure. By the proposed invention a rigid sectional diner structure is shown wherein each section is within the maximum width limit of ten feet, six inches, required for railroad transportation and adapted for the proper layout of modern diner equipment. 7

Other advantages of my invention are apparent or are pointed out in the detailed description below or illustrated in the drawings, wherein-- Fig. 1 is a top plan view of floor structure.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the roof structure.

Fig. 3 is a front elevational View of the diner frame and Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the same.

Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged side elevational cross-sectional views of both sections of the diner showing the equipment layout.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged front elevational view of the continuous center post structure connecting Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of the same.

Fig. 9 is a sectional View on line AA of Fig. 7, of the center post and roof channel joint, and Fig. 10 is a section on line B3 of Fig. '7 showing the center post and floor channel joint.

Fig. 11 is a front elevational view'of the truss plate and'Fig. 12 is a side elevational view of the same.

The strength and rigidity of diner construction to suit any general layout of equipment becomes of utmost importance for the purpose of retaining the interior appointments in perfect condition especially due to the unusual strains placed upon the structure during transportation. In a two section diner construction consideration must also be given to the facility of uniting both sections into a single .unit. In the proposed invention two central frames to meet these re quirements have been provided which include floor channels 2! and 22, continuous angle posts 25 and 26, and roof channels 23 and 24,

The separation of the diner into two sections is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The division line of the central frame is apparent in Fig. 8. When both sections of the diner are united at location the roof channels 23 and 24 are placed back to.

back. The continuous posts 25 and 26 are made preferably of angle iron and fasten to the roof channels 23 and 24 as illustrated in Figs..8 and 9. Said posts are curved to approximate the roof contours at each end of the diner and are bent to converge as the posts continue toward the floor. By reference to Fig. 8 the angle posts 25 and 26 are fastened to the inner side of the webs of the back to back roof channels 23 and 24 thus separating the angle posts 25 and 25 at the top a distance equal to the web thicknesses of the two roof channels 23 and 26. As the posts 25 and 26 continue toward the floor they converge (Fig. 8) until the two adjacent legs of the angles meet back to back, between the floor channels 2i and 22 (Fig. 10) thus separating the floor channels 2| and 22 a distance equal to the thicknesses of the two angle legs. Truss plates 2? and 28 are fastened to the backs of floor channels 2! and 22 respectively and are the same thickness as the legs of the post angles separating the floor channels as pointed out above.

The front central frame is a continuous structure and includes a roof channel 24, right post the combined floor channel 22 and truss plate as, and left post 2t. The rear central frame includes a roof channel 23, right post 25, combined floor channel 2i and truss plate 727, and left post 25. When both sections of the diner are united the roof channels 23 and 24, the truss plates 21 and 23, and the lower portions of the angle posts 25 and 26 are fastened together at location, preferably by field bolts. The holes 35 are provided for the field bolts.

Various types of construction have been tried for the central floor support such as increasing the sizes of channels, employing angles, supplemented by tie rods and braces but the proposed combination of channel 22 and truss plate 28 is preferred. The length of the truss plate is approximately 85 per cent of the overall length of the diner; its depth at the ends is approximately two and a quarter times the depth of the floor channels and increases in depth over its central portion to approximately five times the depth of the fioor channel. Its thickness is equal to the thickness of the inner leg of the post angle.

The balance of the structural frame is to a great extent of standard construction. The floor (Fig. 1) includes a sill 29 and floor beams or angles 3| running from the sill to the central floor channels 25 and 22. The roof (Fig. 2) is provided with a plate 39 and curved roof rafters 32 running from the plate to the central roof channels 23 and 2s. The side and end posts 33 are fastened at their respective ends to the sill and plate. Although other means for fastoning the various members of the general structure may be employed, I prefer to have all joints and connections welded.

In Figs, 5 and 6 the desired layout of the diner is shown. At the front of the diner (left side of Fig. 5) a row of table-booths 38 is provided. A service counter ill, running longitudinally of the diner is shown at the right side of Fig. 5 and a row of stools 39 for sitting at the service counter are located directly in front of the counter. The space between the booths 38 and the stools 39 is the aisle or walk.

In the rear half of the diner (Fig. 6) a partition 42 divides the kitchen and washrooms 33 from the main part of the diner. Directly in front of the partition 42 the stoves, tables, etc. used for preparing food together with the aisle or walk for the cook, are located. It is apparent that the diner represents a large open room running the entire length of the structure and extending from the front wall (left side of Fig. 5)

to the partition wall 42 in the rear section (Fig. 6). In that portion of the diner no post or supports are located.

Therefore by my invention a modern diner of any desired width up to a maximum of twentyone feet (which is the preferred width of modern diners), may be constructed in two, open side, sections, each section having a maximum width of ten feet six inches, the railroad transportation limit.

I claim:

1. A portable diner constructed in two sections adapted to be united along a longitudinal division line into a single structure, a frame for each section comprising vertical supporting members along the two ends and one side, and an open frame free of vertical supporting members along the division line side, said open frame including a roof channel positioned so that the back of the web of said roof channel is in the plane of the division line of the diner sections, a floor channel in combination with a truss plate, aid floor channel positioned so that the back of the web of said floor channel is a distance equal to the thickness of said truss plate away from the division line of the diner sections, and a bent continuous angle post at each end of the diner fastened to the web of said roof channel and to the back of the web of said floor channel.

2. A portable diner constructed in two sections adapted to be united along a longitudinal division line into a single structure, one section of said diner being provided with a service counter extending longitudinally of said section, the back of said counter being approximately in the vertical plane of the division line between sections, a frame for each section comprising vertical sup-- porting members along the two ends and one side, and an open frame free of vertical supporting members along the division line side, said open frame including a roof channel positioned so that the back of the web of said roof channel is in the plane of the division line of the diner sections, a floor channel in combination with a truss plate, said floor channel positioned so that the back of the web of said floor chann l is a distance equal to the thickness of said truss plate away from the division line of the diner sections, and a bent continuous angle post at each end of the diner fastened to the inside of the web of said roof channel and to the back of the web of said floor channel.

3. A portable diner constructed in two sections adapted to be united along a longitudinal divi sion line into a single structure, a frame for section comprising vertical supporting members along the two ends and one side, and an open frame free of vertical supporting members along the division line side, said open frame including a roof channel positioned so that the back of the web of said roof channel is in the plane of the division line of the diner sections, a floor channel on each section in combination with a novel truss plate fastened to the back of said channel and adapted to be fastened together along the division line between sections, and continuous posts bent to approximate the roof contour curve and side wall at each end and extending from the roof channels to the floor channels and fastening at the top to the inside of the roof channel Webs and converging toward and fastening at the bottom to the back of the floor channel webs,

ARTHUR E. SIEBER. 

